Russian group is first with new-generation nuclear reactor
Russian State-owned nuclear energy group Rosatom has announced that it has started operational trials with the world’s first Generation III+ nuclear reactor. This is the group’s VVER-1200 (AES-2006), designed and developed by its subsidiary, OKB Gidropress. It puts the Russian group ahead of its rivals in the worldwide nuclear market.
“Rosatom is the world’s largest supplier of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the global market,” highlighted NIAEP President Valery Limarenko. (NIAEP is the power engineering and construction arm of Rosatom.) “Today, we have made our position stronger. This opens new opportunities for building up our presence in the global market.”
The new reactor forms Unit 6 of the Novovoronezhc NPP in Russia. On August 5, at 00:35, it was connected to the national grid and produced 240 MW of electricity. “This event is our great victory, which crowns a huge amount of work in installation and adjustment of equipment, and complex process operations,” affirmed Rosenergoatom general director Andrei Petrov. (Rosenergoatom is Rosatom’s power generation subsidiary.) “The operating personnel clearly understand the process, equipment operation safety and reliability.”
During the test connection to the grid, engineers and other specialists undertook a large number of tests and checks at various stages of the power build-up. The reactor’s systems were also inspected. These actions were carried out to make certain that the unit was operating safely and reliably.
This initial connection to the national grid came five months after the reactor first achieved criticality. It is expected to start full commercial operation by the end of this year. Between now and then, it will undergo mandatory acceptance tests and demonstrate 100% production capacity. Once in full service, it will increase the power capacity of the Novovoronezh NPP by a factor of 1.5. Unit 6 has an expected life of at least 60 years.
Generation III+ reactors provide both improved performance and increased safety, meeting the revised prescriptions of the International Atomic Energy Agency following the major accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP in Japan, triggered by the great earthquake and subsequent tsunami of March 2011. (The earthquake and tsunami killed some 16 000 people; no one has died from radiation from the NPP.)
“ [Generation III+ reactors] feature a large number of passive safety systems, which are able to function even in case of a plant blackout and without [an] operator’s intervention,” explained Rosatom in its press release. “Unit 6 of the Novovoronezh NPP features a passive heat removal system from the reactor, hydrogen recombiners and a core catcher, which are unique and have no similarities worldwide.”
Rosatom is one of the groups known to be interested in supplying NPPs for South Africa’s proposed new NPP programme, which will supplement and later replace the current Koeberg NPP, which is currently the only NPP in Africa. Currently, South Africa is planning 9.6 GW of new NPP generating capacity.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation